This Rare Medical Condition Is Beyond Freaky, And It Makes Life Really Difficult

As the old TV show House taught us, there’s a whole host of medical issues out there that we don’t know about. While Dr. House may have been fictional, some of the diseases and conditions described on the show are all too real.

The freakiest medical conditions are not necessarily life threatening. They just happen to ruin people’s quality of life. Take the condition known as triphalangeal thumb, for example.

The hands of those suffering from triphalangeal thumb (TPT) look like this.

The thumbs of people with TPT aren’t opposable. This means that sufferers cannot touch their thumbs to their other fingers.

In some cases, the thumb might look like a significantly smaller nub, or it might be missing altogether.

As you might imagine, this is an extremely rare condition. In fact, it only affects one in 25,000 people. Doctors believe that TPT is at least partially hereditary, but researchers are still looking into other possible explanations.